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Review Summary

Former assistant director to renowned Taiwanese filmmakers Tsai Ming-liang and Sylvia Chang, Vivian Chang makes her directorial debut with this quiet, nuanced cinematic triptych about three stages of a woman's life. The first segment centers on a five-year-old lass (Huang Pin-hsuan) who sells tissues at a Taipei night market while her father begs for money by day and drinks, gambles, and beats her philandering mother by night. Meanwhile, the child imagines her parents either dead or as tango dancers. The second section focuses on an alienated teenager (Tammy Tseng) who copes with her own ennui by swiping the ID cards of strangers and assuming their identity for a while. She stumbles upon a partner in crime when she meets a motorcycle accident victim (Leon Dai) suffering from acute amnesia. The final segment deals with a 30-year-old woman (Shu Qi) who visits her dying mother while considering becoming a parent herself. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi